Estimated number of books destroyed in Poland from 1939 through 1941: 15,000,000.

Source: John Leonard, review of A Universal History of the Destruction of Books,

Gazprom facing gas underproduction

Gazprom President Alexei Miller's assessment of gas output between 2007-2009: no change.

Actual gas output from 2005 on: in 2005, 555 billion cubic meters; in 2006, 556 billion cubic meters; in 2007, 548.5 billion cubic meters; no data for 2008 and no data on the previously announced plans for increasing production between 2008-2011.

Price of gas in Russia: Russian government continues to subsidize internal gas consumption and appears to be backtracking on its previous promise to discontinue it by 2011.

Possible outcome: increasing internal and external demand for gas and dwindling capacity to extract gas from the Russian Federation's territory will make Russia more aggressive in appropriating Central Asian gas and selling it as “Russian” gas.

Opinions of Ukrainians about Russia and NATO after Russia-Georgia conflict

Percentage of Ukrainians who blame Russia for the conflict and consider Russians to be aggressors: 44.3 percent.

Percentage of Ukrainians who consider Russian actions to be a “peacekeeping operation”: 41.4 percent.

The undecided vote: 14.3 percent.

Breakdown by region: Russia is perceived as aggressor by 72.9 percent of western Ukrainians, 62.5 percent of respondents in the Kyiv region, 58 percent of residents of central Ukraine, 56.3 percent in the east, and 53.5 percent in the south.

Number of varieties of apple trees still cultivated in Polish orchards: about 200.

Names of some varieties now cultivated only in Poland: malinówki, antonówki, papierówki, renety gwiazdkowe. kosztele (the favorite of King Jan III Sobieski)-all tall trees, in contrast to the commercial dwarf varieties.

Number of new growers persuaded to grow old apple varieties by the Ecological Institute: about 100.

Number of old fruit orchards in Poland in the 1990s and in 2008: about 2,000 and about 500, respectively.